Kali Comic from Virgin Comics

Kali, sorry it is Kaali for Virgin Comics, is part of Deepak Chopra’s India Authentic Series. This is the second comic book, first being Ganesha. Kaali is the story of ‘the most primal and feared aspect of the Indian Mother Goddess.’

I guess the introductory tag explains it all. Instead of modern mechanized villains, we will be served demons from Hindu mythology and for a change the heroine is not a beauty but monstrous in appearance than the villains.

She was born in a crimson haze. She bathed in the blood of a thousand hearts, devoured a million creations and smeared on herself, the ashes of infinity…and then she slept.

When Rakta Veej the blood demon and his unstoppable army of blood spawns laysiege to Amaravati, the city of Gods, the Gods desperately invoke the slumbering Vampiric spirit of Kaali to destroyer to fight their battle. But once the battle is done, will Kaali stop there? Or will her primal instincts cause her to turn on the Gods themselves?

It looks; the comic is going to be dominated by blood and battles. For the first time, Kali is compared to a Vampire – her instincts. There is no denying the fact that Kali is ferocious and provides scope for artistic exploration of ferocity.

Most modern interpretations of Kali, like this new comic, are nothing but an attempt to win over a young Western audience with ferociousness and demons. The Western audience is fed up with mechanized monsters. They need something fresh and Hindu mythology is an unexplored arena, which has lot of ferocious characters to tickle the imagination and fill the appetite of western readers.

But there is a spiritual angle to Kali and that is quite often purposefully forgotten in modern interpretations of the legend of Kali. The motherly aspect of Kali is being sidelined. She is benevolent and compassionate too. She becomes ferocious only when her children are in danger.

The comic Kaali is created by Deepak Chopra. It is written by Saurav Mahapatra. Illustrations and Cover Design is by Satish Tyade.